See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/360189491

Geopolymer Concrete: Properties, Durability and Applications-Review

Article · May 2022

DOI: 10.5937/ror2201063J

CITATIONS READS
0 348

3 authors, including:

Dilshad Jaf Shuokr Qarani Aziz

Salahaddin University - Erbil Salahaddin University - Erbil
8 PUBLICATIONS   44 CITATIONS    113 PUBLICATIONS   1,624 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Environmental studies View project

Hazardous waste management in Erbil City View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Shuokr Qarani Aziz on 11 May 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75

www.rsd.tfbor.bg.ac.rs

Recycling and Sustainable Development RSD

Online ISSN 2560-3132
Print ISSN 1820-7480

Geopolymer Concrete: Properties, Durability and Applications-Review

Dilshad Kakasor Jaf, Payam Ismael Abdulrahman, Shuokr Qarani Aziz #

Salahaddin University-Erbil, College of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Received 22 November 2021 Concrete is one of the most reliable, durable, and desired construction materials. It
Accepted 04 May 2022 became the second most used material after water in the world. Many studies and
investigations reported that the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere is
Review article nearly 1 ton in the production of 1 ton of cement, which contributes to 5-7 % of
total CO2 emissions worldwide. Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is a new development
Keywords: in the world of concrete, which does not need to use cement. The most used
Geopolymer materials in geopolymer are by-products such as fly ash, ground granulated blast
Concrete furnace slag, silica fume, etc. Industrial waste materials are a great problem for
Fly ash human health, environment, and scarcity of land, therefore, reusing them in GPC
Durability manufacturing can be seen as a great advantage. Fortunately, most of the recent
OPC research concludes that most by-products exhibit similar or better durability,
mechanical and physical properties when compared to ordinary concrete.
Therefore, GPC became a good sustainable engineering material with many
advantages over conventional concrete, such as high early strength, excellent
resistance to chemical attacks and steel reinforcement corrosion, elimination of
water curing, low cost, etc. This paper reviews the process of geopolymer concrete,
constituents, types, properties, durability, and particular applications.

1. Introduction of the changes is partial replacement of cement by other

Establishing factories and industries is the main factor
for the development of any country, and it has become a
huge source of incomes. The industrial sector currently
increased worldwide which is the great sources of CO 2
emissions, which are harmful for the environment in
various ways and the results are global warming,
greenhouse gases, etc. To conserve water from
contamination by any disposal and protect lands, the
industries should reduce waste by recycling or reusing
and reducing CO2 by capturing and storage. Related to
civil engineering, construction has been one of the
rapidly growing fields.
A lot of effort is put in reducing the use of cement, one

Corresponding autor: shoker71@yahoo.com
cementitious materials such as by-product materials e.g.,
fly ash, slag. These types of cements are called blended
cements, because they are mixed with ordinary cement.
Another new technology is the complete replacement of
cement by a natural or waste materials (Law et al., 2015),
which is rich in silica and alumina, it can be applied as a
binder instead of cement in concrete.
This new innovation is called Geopolymer, firstly
formed by French chemist Joseph Davidovits in 1978
(Davidovits, 1994). Geopolymer concrete (GPC) is a
good alternative for conventional concrete, it provides
excellent mechanical properties and durability such as
strong resistance to acids, thermal and freezing-thawing
attacks.

doi: 10.5937/ror2201063J
D. F. Jaf et al.
2. GPC (Geopolymer concrete)
Geopolymer is a new development class of concrete. It
is a new idea to avoid using cement and completely
replace it, thus become an eco-friendly material. This
system is based on an inorganic Aluminosilicate binder,
that is any source material that is rich in alumina (Al) and
silica (Si) can be used, especially by-products such as; fly
ash, slag, natural rocks, etc. The source material is mixed
with an alkaline activator (usually KOH or NaOH) to
liberate Al and Si atoms, with an additional source of
silica (Na2SiO3 commonly used) to activate the atoms. In
the chemical reaction of GPC water is not involved, it is
expelled during curing, which resultes in no water
content. Therefore, the hydration reaction that occurs in
ordinary concrete is released and the hydration
production (Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate, Calcium
Hydrate) is also released. These results show great
advantages in terms of the mechanical properties (Sathia
et al., 2008), alkali-aggregate reaction, lower sorptivity
(Shaikh, 2014) and other chemical attacks.
Geopolymerization process involves a chemical reaction
under strongly alkaline conditions, the product is in the
form of a strong gel with an amorphous (Non-
Crystalline) microstructure based on Al-Si system. It can
exhibit the ideal properties e.g. hardness, longevity and
chemical stability. The important fact is that high-alkali
binder does not generate an alkali-aggregate reaction. Its
structure consists of three-dimensional links of SiO4
(Silate) and AlO4 (Tetrahedra) with shared oxygen
atoms. Figure 1 shows the formation process of
geopolymer (Davidovits, 1994).
Figure 1. Schematic formation of geopolymer (Davidovits, 1994)
3. Constitution of GPC
The main ingredients of the GPC are source material
and alkaline solution, also aggregate (both coarse and
fine), water and admixture.
GPC = Aluminosilicate by-products (precursors) +
Alkaline Activator + Aggregate + Water + Admixture.
3.1. Source (base) material
The base material used is a dry and very fine powder,
its fineness is almost higher than cement, which helps in
better reaction and bonding. Pozzolanic compound or
other Aluminosilicate material can be used in the
production of a geopolymer that is used instead of cement
and acts as a binder in concrete. Natural materials such as
64
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
kaolinite, clay and other alternatives especially by-
product materials e.g. Fly ash (Bakri et al., 2012; Hariz
et al., 2017), Ground granulated blast-furnace slag
(GGBS), silica fume, rice-husk ash (Bakri et al., 2012),
red-mud (Burduhos Nergis et al., 2018), metakaolin, etc.
can be used. Various industry by-products and hazardous
wastes can be used to manufacture geopolymers
(Hajimohammadi and van Deventer, 2017; Bagheri et al.,
2018; Hu et al., 2018).
In order to promote more environmental-friendly
production using waste materials more than naturals have
been suggested to minimize CO2 emissions, using less
energy and conserving more land. Also using locally
available source materials helps in minimizing the total
cost.
3.2. Alkaline activator
The liquid solution is another main ingredient of
geopolymer. Alkali activation is a process of mixing
Aluminosilicate material with an alkaline activator, it
produces a paste that sets and hardens. This process is
done with the availability of some amount of water. Bakri
et al. (2012) stated that, the most common used alkaline
liquids are mixture of sodium hydroxide with sodium
silicate (Na2SiO3) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) with
potassium silicate (K2SiO3). Selecting the types of
activators mainly depend upon availability and reactivity.
NaOH is cheaper and more reactive compared to KOH
(Sathia et al., 2008).
3.3. Aggregates
Aggregates are the other main ingredients of GPC. In
normal concrete, coarse aggregate and fine aggregate are
usually used by 65 % and 35 %, which occupy almost 70
% of concrete volume (Chowdhury et al., 2021). The
ratio of aggregates is also same for GPC, while the
studies by Kashani et al. (2019) reported that the use of
fine aggregates to coarse aggregates at a ratio of
0.53:0.47 to achieve self-compactness without
decreasing required strength. Locally available
aggregates are recommended to use in geopolymer in
order to become more economical. Table 1 shows the
type and some physical properties of both coarse and fine
aggregates used in GPC by different researchers.
3.4. Admixtures
To maintain the workability of the GPC, it is better to
use admixtures other than using extra water. Some
commonly used superplasticizers are Sulfonated
naphthalene formaldehyde and Sulfonated melamine
formaldehyde (Chowdhury et al., 2021). High-Range-
Water-Reducer admixtures such as naphthalene-based
superplasticizer (Sathia et al., 2008; Joseph and Mathew,
2012; Singh et al., 2015), MasterGlenium ACE_450
D. F. Jaf et al. Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75

Table 1
Types and physical properties of aggregates

Author Aggregate Type Nominal size (mm) Specific gravity

Coarse Recycled GPC 12 2.85
(Mesgari et al., 2020)
Fine Sydney sand - 2.6
(Joseph and Mathew, Coarse Crushed granite rock 20 2.72
2012) Fine Natural river sand 4.5 2.64
Coarse - 20 2.81
(Gupta et al., 2021)
Fine - 4.75 2.66
Coarse Crushed basalt 12.5 2.639
(Jamkar et al., 2013)
Fine Natural river sand 4.75 2.563
Coarse Metallurgical converter slag 22.4 -
(Mucsi et al., 2014)
Fine Andesite 4 -
(Jawahar and Coarse Crushed granite stones 10, 20 -
Mounika, 2016) Fine Natural river sand - -

(Safari et al., 2020) were used to increase relative slump
without any decrease in compressive strength.
Admixtures such as sucrose (C12H22O11) is used as
retarder since it is absorbed by Al, Ca and Fe ions to form
insoluble metal complexes. Also citric acid (C6H8O7) acts
as accelerator reducing the setting time (Kusbiantoro et
al., 2013; Singh et al., 2015).
Admixtures in the ratio of 1-2 % (Rattanasak et al.,
2011), 1-2.5 % (El-hassan and Ismail, 2017), and 2 %
(Joseph and Mathew, 2012; Safari et al., 2020) were
added by mass of the source material.
4. Production of GPC
Similar to the hydration reaction of ordinary Portland
cement (OPC), geopolymerization is also an exothermic
reaction, it releases a large amount of heat during mixing.
The process can be divided into three stages:
1. Preparing the alkaline solution by mixing NaOH and
Na2SiO3 or KOH and K2SiO3 with availability of
some amount of water. To completely dissolve the
chemical substances in each other this preparation
should be at least 24 hours prior (Bakri et al., 2012;
Safari et al., 2020).
2. Mixing dry materials such as source material and
aggregates then mixing with the prepared chemical
solution and adding the admixtures to maintain
workability, then moulding. In this state (fresh state)
the concrete can easily handle up to 120 minutes
without any sign of setting and without any
degradation in its compressive strength.
3. Leaving the samples at room temperature for 24
hours. Then solidification through curing the samples
after de-moulding them either at ambient temperature
or by heating using oven. Most of the researches are
agree on oven curing in 60º C to 100º C for 24 to 96
hours (Kumar et al., 2015). In this stage the water is
totally eliminated and the material shows its final
form.
The production process of GPC is summarized in the
Figure 2 (Hassan et al., 2019; Masoule et al., 2022).
5. Types of GPC
5.1. Fly ash-based geopolymer
Fly ash is a pozzolanic waste material, pozzolans are
siliceous or siliceous and aluminous materials. Generally,
fly ash is generated in the coal-fired power plant. Its
particles are glassy and spherical, based on its sources
and composition can be classified into two classes; class
F of fly ash which is produced from burning
of bituminous or anthracite coal also contains less than 7
% lime (CaO), the second type is class C which is
normally produced from burning of sub-bituminous
or lignite coal, contains more than 20 % lime. Fly ash is
available in huge quantities worldwide. Class F of fly
ash has been investigated as a suitable material for
geopolymer because of its pertinent silica and
alumina composition, less water demand, and wide
availability (Nath and Sarker, 2014; Jawahar and
Mounika, 2016). Fly ash has strong and glassy silica-
alumina chains, these chains are broken by alkali
activators. Using fly ash in geopolymer is a good choice
due to its ability to maintain good workability, durability
and compressive strength. The main chemical
compositions of fly ash classes are tabulated in Tables 2
and 3, respectively.
5.2. Slag-based geopolymer
Slag is a waste material that produced during the
melting of iron ore (Burduhos Nergis et al., 2018). Slag
has different types such as Granulated Corex slag (GCS),
steel slag, blast furnace slag (BFS), GGBS, etc. It can be
used in manufacturing different types of materials also
used to create binders in different types of concrete and
mortars with a very good mechanical property by
geopolymerization. Compared to fly ash, slag is more
preferable to use in producing geopolymer, because its
behaviour is more similar to OPC and it has the same
main chemical composition like OPC but in different
proportions while fly ash has slowly pozzolanic reaction.
The main chemical compositions of GGBS, GCS, and
BFS are shown in the Table 4.

65
D. F. Jaf et al. Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75

Figure 2. Production process of GPC (Hassan et al., 2019; Masoule et al., 2022)

Table 2
Chemical composition of fly ash

Chemical Composition %
Fly ash Author
Al2O3 SiO2 CaO Fe2O3 MgO SO3
(Sathia et al., 2008) 30.08 61.16 1.75 4.62 0.18 0.19
Class F
(Huseien et al., 2016) 28.80 57.20 5.16 3.67 1.48 0.1
(Muthadhi et al., 2016) 31.23 32.62 17.12 8.48 3.49 0
Class C
(Wardhono et al., 2017) 17.89 4.75 12.65 59.11 0 0.86

Table 3
Chemical composition of fly ash classes
Fly ash (Burduhos Nergis et al., 2018) Chemical Composition
For class F Al2O3 + SiO2 + Fe2O3 ≥ 70 %
For class C Al2O3 + SiO2 + Fe2O3 ≥ 50 %

Table 4
Main chemical composition of GGBS, GCS, and BFS
Chemical Composition %
Material Author
Al2O3 SiO2 CaO Fe2O3 MgO SO3
(Huseien et al., 2016) 10.9 30.80 51.80 0.64 4.57 0.06
GGBS
(Jawahar and Mounika, 2016) 16.24 30.61 34.48 0.584 6.79 1.85
GCS (Mehta and Siddique, 2016) 18.36 32.51 33.31 1.49 11.08 -
BFS (Mehta and Siddique, 2016) 11.50 33.80 38.30 0.60 9.0 -

66
D. F. Jaf et al. Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75

5.3. Red -mud -based geopolymer temperature between 650 °C and 750 °C (Burduhos
Nergis et al., 2018). It is an aluminosilicate material
Red mud is another source material that can be used in which can be used in manufacturing of geopolymer
GPC. It is generated in huge amount from aluminium concrete (Parathi et al., 2021). Its ions can be dissolved
production plant, its pH is about 10.5-12.5 (Rai et al., in NaOH at 100-150 ºC (Rovnaník, 2010). It can emit 80-
2012). Burduhos Nergis et al. (2018) stated that 2 ton of 90 % less CO2 than OPC. Metakaolin-based GPC has
red mud are deposited for every ton of aluminium. Red higher strength and durability compared to OPC concrete
mud is rich in silica and alumina, thus it can be used to (Guo et al., 2020). Granizo et al. (2007) stated that the
create geopolymer and its ions dissolved in NaOH at 175 chemical constituents of metakaolin directly influence
ºC, resulted in produce of Al2(OH)2 (Burduhos Nergis et the mechanical properties of GPC. The main chemical
al., 2018). It has excellent quality with low cost and CO 2 composition of three types of kaolin (Granizo et al., 2007;
emissions but the main problem of red mud is that it Heah et al., 2011) and metakaolin (Rovnaník, 2010;
cannot be reused, hence it becomes a huge problem for Mehta and Siddique, 2016; Zain et al., 2017) are shown
environment in future (Rai et al., 2012). Table 5 shows in the Table 6.
the main chemical composition of Red-mud. The difference between cementitious materials (silica
fume, natural pozzolans, metakaolin, fly ash, slag,
5.4. Metakaolinite based-geopolymer limestone and OPC) based on chemical compositions
(Al2O3, CaO and SiO2) are shown in a ternary diagram in
Metakaolin is a type of refined kaolin clay calcined at the Figure 3.
Table 5
Main chemical composition of red-mud
Chemical Composition %
Material Author
Al2O3 SiO2 CaO Fe2O3 MgO TiO2
(He et al., 2013) 14 1.20 2.50 30.9 - 4.5
Red-mud (Kaya and Soyer-Uzun, 2016) 14.02 11.67 1.10 37.1 0.23 5.78
(Mehta and Siddique, 2016) 0.45 89.34 0.76 0.4 0.49 -

Table 6
Main chemical composition of kaolin and metakaolin
Chemical composition %
Author Material
Al2O3 Si2O3 CaO Fe2O3 MgO
Kaolin 1 36.3 49.8 0 0.6 0.2
(Granizo et al., 2007)
Kaolin 2 36 47 0.8 0.5 0
(Heah et al., 2011) Kaolin 35 52 <0.05 1.0 0.70
(Rovnaník, 2010) Metakaolin 40.94 55.01 0.14 0.55 0.34
(Mehta and Siddique, 2016) Metakaolin 40.48 48.31 0.04 2.62 0.36
(Zain et al., 2017) Metakaolin 37.20 55.90 0.11 1.7 0.24

Figure 3. Al2O3 – CaO – SiO2 ternary diagram for cementitious materials (Wang et al., 2020)

67
D. F. Jaf et al.
6. Mechanical properties
The behaviour and properties of any concrete should be
studied from preparing the ingredients to its full life-
cycle in order to learn how to deal with the possible
issues. According to previous studies when compared to
conventional concrete, GPC has more excellent
properties such as, high early strength and durability.
Sathia et al. (2008) reported that the time of hardening in
GPC is very short, 90 % of its strength is obtained within
7 days and after that there are no more variation in
compressive strength. There are a lot of factors that have
a great influence on the compressive strength of the GPC.
The main effective factors are: concentration of the
alkaline activator, curing time and temperature. Also,
Burduhos Nergis et al. (2018) added other factors like;
molar ratio of SiO2 to Al2O3, Na2O to SiO2, H2O to Na2O,
type and quantity of the admixture, particle dimensions,
calcium quantity and fineness of the source material and
aggregates.
6.1. Alkaline solution
The main factors affected the mechanical properties of
GPC regarding the alkali solution are; Na2SiO3 to NaOH
ratio, ratio of alkali to binder (Raijiwala and Patil, 2011).
Bhikshma (2012) worked on fly ash-based geopolymer,
used different alkaline to binder ratio. The experimental
results showed that all compressive, tensile and flexural
strength increased with increasing alkaline to fly ash
ratio, in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Effect of Alkaline liquid/fly ash ratio on compressive
strength (Bhikshma, 2012)
The explained factors can increase the compressive
strength in a limited range, beyond that range it will have
adverse effect. In addition, compressive strength
decreases with increasing H2O to Na2O ratio. Because the
water evaporates during curing and it leads to increased
porosity, decreased density and poor compressive
strength. Moreover, Huseien et al. (2016) stated that
increasing the ratio of water to geopolymer, resulted in
decreasing compressive strength. Wu et al. (2019)
reported that increasing of SiO2 to Al2O3 ratio resulted in
decreasing of compressive strength.
68
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
6.2. Liquid concentration
Concentration (in terms of molarity M) of the alkaline
activator is one of the factors which influence the
mechanical properties of GPC (Hardjito et al., 2004;
Raijiwala and Patil, 2011). Compressive strength
increases with increasing concentration of the liquid,
alkaline to binder ratio and Na2SiO3 to NaOH ratio.
Because higher concentration means higher -OH ions
thus rapid disintegration and higher solubility of silica-
alumina chains of source material in the solution. Hence
contribute the production with larger number of active
groups resulted in higher early compressive strength
(Sathia et al., 2008; Jawahar and Mounika, 2016).
Practically, Burduhos Nergis et al. (2018) used
concentration 4, 8, and 12 M, Raijiwala and Patil (2011)
applied 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 25 M and Huseien et al.
(2016) used 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 M, they tested
the samples for 28 days. Their results showed that the
compressive strength of GPC increases with increasing
liquid concentration in a specific range, in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Effect of NaOH concentration on compressive strength
Through reviewing the previous studies and
investigations on geopolymer, there should be an
optimum level for the liquid concentration and SiO 2 to
Al2O3 ratio and H2O to Na2O ratio. Most of the
researchers found the optimum level in 12 Molarity of the
concentration and (2.5 to 4) for SiO2 to Al2O3 ratio of
precursor materials (Bakri et al., 2012; Safari et al.,
2020).
6.3. Curing time and temperature
There is a difference between curing in OPC concrete
and GPC; in OPC concrete water is used to cure the
samples but in geopolymer system the samples can be
cured in room temperature (ambient curing) or by heat
(steam or dry curing) to facilitate the geo-polymerization
rate. The temperature during curing depends upon source
material and activating solution. Increasing curing
temperature results in accelerated geopolymerization
process, decreased setting period and contribution to
higher compressive strength in short time (Shaikh, 2014;
D. F. Jaf et al.
Burduhos Nergis et al., 2018). Vijai et al. (2010) studied
effect of different curing times and temperatures and used
ambient and hot curing for 7 and 28 days, respectively.
The results showed that the compressive strength
increased with increasing curing temperature and curing
period. The results are shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Effect of curing time and temperature on compressive
strength (Vijai et al., 2010)
Zhang et al. (2016) showed that compressive and
flexural strength increased with increasing curing
temperature 25 ºC to 100 ºC, but beyond 100 ºC they were
decreased, in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Effect of curing temperature on compressive and flexural
strength (Zhang et al., 2016)
Raijiwala and Patil (2011) worked on geopolymer,
fixed 16 molarity concentration for all samples then
tested in different curing time. The compressive strength,
split tensile, and flexural strength increased with time of
curing, Figure 8.
Figure 8. Effect of curing temperature on compressive, tensile and
flexural strength (Raijiwala and Patil, 2011)
69
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
6.4. Fineness
The fineness of the source material was also studied by
some researchers. Chowdhury et al. (2021) used fly ash
in geopolymer concrete with specific surface area of 250-
500 m2/kg and (542, 430, 367, 327, 265) m2/kg were used
by Jamkar et al. (2013). They concluded that, the fineness
of the source material is directly related to the density of
the geopolymer material. The finer particle size of source
material, the larger the specific surface area and the
higher the reactivity (Gupta et al., 2017; Al-Mashhadani
et al., 2018; Assi et al., 2018). The fineness of the
aggregates is also significant in order to evaluate the
performance of geopolymer materials. Table 7 shows the
type and fineness modulus of fine aggregate used in
different studies.
Table 7
Types and fineness modulus of fine aggregate
Type of fine Fineness
Author
aggregate Modulus
(Nuaklong et al., 2016) Natural river sand 2.6
(Joseph and Mathew, 2012) Natural river sand 2.36
(Jamkar et al., 2013) Natural river sand 3.16
(Gupta et al., 2021) - 2.83
(Aly et al., 2019) Natural sand 2.25
7. Durability
The durability of concrete is an important issue that
should be considered in the performance of the structure
throughout its lifecycle. The durability of concrete
mainly depends upon its permeability characteristics.
When concrete is impermeable, it means that it can resist
penetration by any aggressive ions, thus reduce damaging
of the concrete, maintenance cost and extend its life-cycle
expectancy. Most of the researches reported the excellent
durability in geopolymer system due to less steel
corrosion, creep, drying shrinkage, acid attacks, chloride
attack, water sorptivity (Shaikh, 2014), porosity, and
high temperature resistance up to 600 ºC, heat insulation,
strong interfacial bonding and higher sustainability. The
mass loss in geopolymer paste due to exposure of H 2SO4
is about 3 % which is less than ordinary Portland cement
(Sathia et al., 2008). All the parameters which affect the
properties and performance of the GPC also affect the
durability. Higher water absorption occurs with
increasing NaOH molarity and reducing fine aggregate
content while by curing at lower temperature (ambient),
the water absorption decrease when compared to curing
at elevated temperature (Huseien et al., 2016).
Furthermore, using more Na2SiO3 leads to lower water
absorption and better corrosion resistance. However,
using higher alkaline solution to binder ratio will have
negative effect and increase water absorption.
Sathia et al. (2008) stated that increasing H2O to Na2O
ratio decreases the compressive strength due to
increasing porosity.
D. F. Jaf et al.
Huseien et al. (2016) studied the effect of sodium
hydroxide molarity on water absorption in geopolymer
mortar. The test results after 24 hours showed that water
absorption decreases with increasing NaOH
concentration, Figure 9.
Figure 9. Relation between molarity and water absorption
(Huseien et al., 2016)
Raijiwala and Patil (2011) studied the effect of NaOH
molarity and curing time on durability of GPC, used 8,
10, 12, 14, 16, and 25 M and tested in 1, 7, 14, and 28
days for weight loss amount. The results showed that the
weight loss decreased with increasing molarity and
curing period until 16 M but after that it was increased,
Figure 10.
Figure 10. Effect of molarity and curing time on weight loss in
compressive strength (Raijiwala and Patil, 2011)
Davidovits (2013) showed that the expansion due to
alkali-aggregate reaction in OPC is much higher than
GPC, it is shown in the Figure 11.
Figure 11. Expansion due to alkali-aggregate reaction
(Davidovits, 2013)
70
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
Compared to OPC-based concretes, fly ash-based
geopolymer has less tendency for shrinkage and cracking
and has much less effect of fire when exposed to fire.
Sarker et al. (2014) reported that GPC has more
resistance to loss compressive strength at high
temperature than OPC concrete, when both of them were
exposed to fire from 23 ºC to 1000 ºC. The variation is
shown below in Figure 12.
Figure 12. Residual of compressive strength after exposure
to fire (Sarker et al., 2014)
Lavanya and Jegan (2015) studied durability of OPC
concrete and GPC, they evaluate the reduction in
compressive strength and density when exposed to
magnesium sulphate and sulfuric acids. The reductions
were less in GPC compared to OPC concrete, Table 8.
Table 8
Reduction in compressive strength and density for plain and
geopolymer concrete (Lavanya and Jegan, 2015)
Loss in
Type of Type of Decrease in
compressive
exposure concrete density %
strength %
Sulfuric OPC 18 - 28 5-7
acid GPC 12 - 20 2.5 - 4
Magnesium OPC 5 - 25 4-6
sulphate GPC 5 - 12 2-3
Hardjito et al. (2004) investigated the durability of
geopolymer concrete by evaluating its resistance to
sulphate attack. They performed a series of tests, the test
samples were soaked in 5 % sodium sulphate (Na2SO4)
solution for a period of time. After 12 weeks from
immersion, the samples were tested. The results showed
no significant changes in the compressive strength, its
mass and in the length of the specimens.
Astutiningsih et al. (2010) studied the effect of seawater
on compressive strength of fly ash-based geopolymer
concrete. The geopolymer concrete samples were cured
at room temperature for 24 hours, then removed from
their moulds and left at room temperature for 14 days,
while the normal concrete samples were cured in water
for 28 days to maintain complete hydration. After curing
the samples, all samples were immersed for 7, 28, 56, and
90 days in ASTM seawater. The compressive strength of
D. F. Jaf et al.
both kinds of concretes were measured and compared.
See figure 13 and 14.
Figure 13. Effect of seawater immersion on compressive strength of
geopolymer (Astutiningsih et al., 2010)
Figure 14. Effect of seawater immersion on compressive strength of
cement-based concrete (Astutiningsih et al., 2010)
Other studies have been performed to evaluate the short
and long-term durability of geopolymer composites in
different ways. For example, Bakharev (2005) studied
resistance of geopolymer materials to acid attacks, acetic
and sulfuric acids. Thokchom et al. (2009) and Albitar et
al. (2017) examined the effect of water absorption,
sorptivity, porosity on durability of geopolymers.
(Farhana et al., 2015) studied the relationship between
porosity and water absorption in geopolymer concrete.
Law et al. (2015) investigated on water sorptivity and
chloride permeability of geopolymer concrete. Pasupathy
et al. (2018) observed on fly ash-based geopolymer under
atmospheric condition for 8 years. Aygörmez et al.
(2020) worked on durability of geopolymer composite at
one year, and Gupta et al. (2021) studied effect of varying
admixture dosage on durability geopolymer concrete
composite.
8. Applications
Geopolymer cement can be used in construction,
transportation infrastructure and offshore applications.
GPC can be used in precast industries due to high early
strength and less breakage during transporting. Using
GPC for water retaining (water tank) is considerable due
to excellent autogenous healing behaviour while in
Portland cement concrete autogenous healing due to
deposition of calcium hydroxide is not desirable.
71
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
GPC can be used in light pavements, there is no
appearance of bleeding on the concrete surface. Practical
example to this, paving a slab for a weighbridge at the
Port of Brisbane-2010 with geopolymer concrete (Sathia
et al., 2008).
GPC can be used in creating precast bridge decks which
provide a serviceable wearing deck, effectively used for
the beam-column junction of reinforced concrete
structure, in manufacturing reinforced-concrete pipes, for
repairing and rehabilitation work (Aleem and Arumairaj,
2012), in marine structure due to its excellent resistance
to chemical attacks. It can also be used as water proof,
fire proof, and thermal insulator and as retaining wall for
a private residence. Geopolymer cement is very suitable
to create massive concrete panels, expanded (foam)
panels, and fibre reinforced sheet (Davidovits, 1994).
It is also good choice for heat insulation, prestressing,
pavements, 3D printing, repairing and rehabilitation
work (Aleem and Arumairaj, 2012; Singh et al., 2019).
Aleem and Arumairaj (2012) stated that constructing
boat ramp in-situ by GPC was better choice than using
conventional concrete.
9. Limitations
1. Until now any standard specification to mix design
geopolymer system has not been fixed. Because many
parameters can affect the system such as curing time,
curing temperature, concentration of the chemical
liquid, alkali to binder ratio, etc.
2. Geopolymer can be produced only by pre-mixing,
thus using high alkalinity chemical solutions such as
NaOH is hazardous and has safety risk to humans
during mixing and handling, hence it is difficult to
create (Safari et al., 2020).
3. In large-scale application, great amount of heat will
be released during dissolution of NaOH in water, thus
it will be difficult for controlling.
4. The demand for using GPC instead conventional
concrete is still limited due to its quality performance.
5. The cost of chemical solution used for activation is
very high.
6. Difficulties in applying steam-curing is not practical,
especially for large-scale projects.
10. Conclusions
Through reviewing the existing literature, we conclude
the following points:
1. GPC is a good alternative to conventional concrete. It
becomes an eco-friendly construction material and as
a result using cement reduced required energy and
CO2 emissions, utilizing industrial waste materials
such as ashes which are widely available.
2. Regarding to the economic aspects, utilizing local
source materials helps in reduction of the total cost.
D. F. Jaf et al.
3. GPC can be used in various fields instead of cement-
based concrete with providing excellent durability
and mechanical properties.
4. Related to the disadvantages, GPC is not
recommended to use in mass concrete due to release
a huge amount of heat at early stages; and it needs
preparation of an alkaline solution at least one day
prior, thus it is a time-consuming material.
5. There are possibilities to exhibit drying shrinkages
due to high heat-development at early ages and
similar to normal concrete GPC is weak in tension. It
is very important to improve the behaviour and
overcome such weaknesses of the material. Thinking
about reinforcing GPC by other materials such as
fibres is a good idea to decrease crack propagation
and increase the energy absorption capacity.
6. Despite the effective parameters such as
concentration, curing time and temperature
controlling, all the process from selecting the
materials until final stages is necessary to present a
perfect production.
References
Astutiningsih, S., Nurjaya, D.M., Ashadi, H.W.,
Swastika, N., Durability of Geopolymer Concretes
upon Seawater Exposure, Adv. Sci. Technol., 69,
2010, 92-96,
Aleem, M.I.A., Arumairaj, P.D., Geopolymer Concrete -
A review, International Journal of Engineering
Sciences & Emerging Technologies, 1, 2012, 118-
122,
Astutiningsih, S., Nurjaya, D.M., Ashadi, H.W.,
Swastika, N., Durability of Geopolymer Concretes
upon Seawater Exposure, Adv. Sci. Technol., 69,
2010, 92-96,
Aleem, M.I.A., Arumairaj, P.D., Geopolymer Concrete -
A review, International Journal of Engineering
Sciences & Emerging Technologies, 1, 2012, 118-
122,
Albitar, M., Mohamed Ali, M.S., Visintin, P., Drechsler,
M., Durability evaluation of geopolymer and
conventional concretes, Constr. Build. Mater., 136,
2017, 374–385,
Al-Mashhadani, M. M., Canpolat, O., Aygörmez, Y.,
Uysal, M., Erdem, S., Mechanical and
microstructural characterization of fiber reinforced
fly ash based geopolymer composites, Construction
and building materials, 167, 2018, 505-513,
Assi, L. N., Deaver, E. E., Ziehl, P., Effect of source and
particle size distribution on the mechanical and
microstructural properties of fly Ash-Based
geopolymer concrete, Construction and Building
Materials, 167, 2018, 372-380,
Aly, A. M., El-Feky, M. S., Kohail, M., Nasr, E. S. A.,
Performance of geopolymer concrete containing
recycled rubber, Construction and Building
72
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
Materials, 207, 2019, 136-144, Aygörmez, Y.,
Canpolat, O., Al-mashhadani, M.M., Assessment of
geopolymer composites durability at one year age, J.
Build. Eng., 32, 2020, 101453,
Bakharev, T., Resistance of geopolymer materials to acid
attack, Cem. Concr. Res., 35, 2005, 658–670,
Bakri, A.M.M. Al, Kamarudin, H., Bnhussain, M., Nizar,
I.K., Rafiza, A.R., Zarina, Y., The Processing,
Characterization, And Properties of Fly Ash Based
Geopolymer Concrete, Reviews on Advanced
Materials Science, 30(1), 2012, 90–97,
Bhikshma, V., Koti Reddy, M., Srinivas Rao, T., An
Experimental Investigation on Properties of
Geopolymer Concrete (No Cement Concrete), Asian
Journal of Civil Engineering (Building and Housing),
13(6), 2012, 841-853,
Burduhos Nergis, D.D., Abdullah, M.M.A.B.,
Vizureanu, P., Tahir, M.F.M., Geopolymers and
Their Uses : Review, IOP Conf. Series: Materials
Science and Engineering, 374(1), 2018, 012019,
Bagheri, A., Nazari, A., Hajimohammadi, A., Sanjayan,
J. G., Rajeev, P., Nikzad, M., Mendis, P.,
Microstructural study of environmentally friendly
boroaluminosilicate geopolymers, Journal of Cleaner
Production, 189, 2018, 805-812,
Chowdhury, S., Mohapatra, S., Gaur, A., Dwivedi, G.,
Soni, A., Study of various properties of geopolymer
concrete – A review, Materials Today: Proceedings,
46, 2021, 5687-5695,
Davidovits, J., Properties of geopolymer cements, In
Kiev (Ed.), First international conference on alkaline
cements and concretes, Kiev, Ukraine: Kiev State
Technical University, 1, 1994, 131-149,
Davidovits, J., Geopolymer Cement A Review,
Geopolymer Sci. Tech, 2013, 1–11,
El-Hassan, H., Ismail, N. Effect of Process Parameters on
The Performance of Fly Ash / GGBS Blended
Geopolymer Composites. J. Sustain. Cem. Mater.,
2017, 1–19,
Farhana, Z.F., Kamarudin, H., Rahmat, A., Al Bakri,
A.M.M., The relationship between water absorption
and porosity for geopolymer paste. Mater. Sci., 803,
2015, 166–172,
Granizo, M. L., Blanco-Varela, M. T., Martínez-
Ramírez, S., Alkali activation of metakaolins:
parameters affecting mechanical, structural and
microstructural properties, Journal of Materials
Science, 42(9), 2007, 2934-2943,
Guo, L., Wu, Y., Xu, F., Song, X., Ye, J., Duan, P.,
Zhang, Z., Sulfate resistance of hybrid fiber
reinforced metakaolin geopolymer composites,
Composites Part B: Engineering, 183, 2020, 107689,
Gupta, R., Bhardwaj, P., Mishra, D., Prasad, M.,
Amritphale, S. S., Formulation of
mechanochemically evolved fly ash based hybrid
inorganic–organic geopolymers with multilevel
characterization, Journal of Inorganic and
D. F. Jaf et al.
Organometallic Polymers and Materials, 27(2), 2017,
385-398,
Gupta, N., Gupta, A., Saxena, K. K., Shukla, A., Goyal,
S. K., Mechanical and durability properties of
geopolymer concrete composite at varying
superplasticizer dosage, Materials Today:
Proceedings, 44, 2021, 12-16,
Hardjito, D., Wallah, S.E., Sumajouw, D.M.J., Rangan,
B.V., On the Development of Fly Ash-Based
Geopolymer Concrete, ACI Materials Journal,
101(6), 2004, 467-472,
Heah, C. Y., Kamarudin, H., Al Bakri, A. M., Binhussain,
M., Luqman, M., Nizar, I. K., ... & Liew, Y. M.,
Effect of curing profile on kaolin-based geopolymers,
Physics Procedia, 22, 2011, 305-311,
He, J., Jie, Y., Zhang, J., Yu, Y., Zhang, G., Synthesis
and characterization of red mud and rice husk ash-
based geopolymer composites, Cement and Concrete
Composites, 37, 2013, 108-118,
Huseien, G.F., Mirza, J., Ismail, M., Hussin, M.W.,
Arrifin, M.A.M., Hussein, A.A., The Effect of
Sodium Hydroxide Molarity and Other Parameters on
Water Absorption of Geopolymer Mortars, Indian
Journal of Science and Technology, 9(48), 2016, 1-7,
Hajimohammadi, A., van Deventer, J.S.J., Solid reactant-
based geopolymers from rice hull ash and sodium
aluminate, Waste and Biomass Valorization, 8(6),
2017, 2131-2140,
Hariz, Z., Mohd, A., Al, M., Kamarudin, H., Nurliyana,
A., Ridho, B., Review on Various Types of
Geopolymer Materials With The Environmental
Impact Assessment, MATEC Web of Conferences,
97, 2017, 01021,
Hu, W., Nie, Q., Huang, B., Shu, X., He, Q., Mechanical
and microstructural characterization of geopolymers
derived from red mud and fly ashes, Journal of
Cleaner Production, 186, 2018, 799-806,
Hassan, A., Arif, M., Shariq, M. Use of geopolymer
concrete for a cleaner and sustainable environment –
A review of mechanical properties and
microstructure, Journal of cleaner production, 223,
2019, 704-728,
Joseph, B., Mathew, G., Influence of aggregate content
on the behaviour of fly ash based geopolymer
concrete, Scientia Iranica, 19(5), 2012, 1188-1194,
Jamkar, S. S., Ghugal, Y. M., Patankar, S. V., Effect of
fly ash fineness on workability and compressive
strength of geopolymer concrete, The Indian
Concrete Journal, 87(4), 2013, 57-61,
Jawahar, J.G., Mounika, G. Strength Properties of Fly
Ash and GGBS Based Geopolymer Concrete, Asian
Journal of Civil Engineering, 17(1), 2016, 127-135,
Kusbiantoro, A., Ibrahim, M. S., Muthusamy, K., Alias,
A., Development of sucrose and citric acid as the
natural based admixture for fly ash based
geopolymer, Procedia Environmental Sciences, 17,
2013, 596-602,
73
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
Kumar, S.G., Aleem, M.I.A., Dinesh, S., Application of
Geopolymer Concrete, International Research
Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET),
2(9), 2015, 96-99,
Kaya, K., Soyer-Uzun, S., Evolution of structural
characteristics and compressive strength in red mud–
metakaolin based geopolymer systems, Ceramics
International, 42(6), 2016, 7406-7413,
Kashani, A., Ngo, T. D., Mendis, P., The effects of
precursors on rheology and self-compactness of
geopolymer concrete, Magazine of Concrete
Research, 71(11), 2019, 557-566,
Lavanya, G., Jegan, J., Durability Study on High Calcium
Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Concrete, Advances in
Materials Science and Engineering, 2015, 731056,
Law, D.W., Arham, A., Thomas, A., Patnaikuni, I.,
Wardhono, A., Long Term Durability Properties of
Class F Fly Ash Geopolymer Concrete. Materials and
Structures, 48, 2015, 721–731,
Mucsi, G., Rácz, Á., Molnár, Z., Szabó, R., Gombkötő,
I., Debreczeni, Á. Synergetic use of lignite fly ash and
metallurgical converter slag in geopolymer concrete.
Mining Science. 2014, 21, 43-55,
Muthadhi, A., Vanjinathan, J., Durai, D., Experimental
investigations on geo polymer concrete based on class
C fly ash, Indian journal of Science and Technology,
9(5), 2016, 1-5,
Mehta, A., Siddique, R. An overview of geopolymers
derived from industrial by-products, Construction
and Building Materials, 127, 2016, 183-198,
Mesgari, S., Akbarnezhad, A., Xiao, J. Z., Recycled
geopolymer aggregates as coarse aggregates for
Portland cement concrete and geopolymer concrete:
Effects on mechanical properties, Construction and
Building Materials, 236, 2020, 117571,
Masoule, M. S. T., Bahrami, N., Karimzadeh, M.,
Mohasanati, B., Shoaei, P., Ameri, F., &
Ozbakkaloglu, T., Lightweight geopolymer concrete:
A critical review on the feasibility, mixture design,
durability properties and microstructure, Ceramics
International, 2022,
Nath, P., Sarker, P. K., Effect of GGBFS on setting,
workability and early strength properties of fly ash
geopolymer concrete cured in ambient condition,
Construction and Building materials, 66, 2014, 163-
171,
Nuaklong, P., Sata, V., Chindaprasirt, P., Influence of
recycled aggregate on fly ash geopolymer concrete
properties, Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 2016,
2300-2307,
Pasupathy, K., Berndt, M., Sanjayan, J., Rajeev, P.,
Cheema, D.S., Durability Performance of Precast Fly
Ash–Based Geopolymer Concrete under
Atmospheric Exposure Conditions, J. Mater. Civ.
Eng, 30(3), 2018, 04018007,
Parathi, S., Nagarajan, P., Pallikkara, S. A., Ecofriendly
geopolymer concrete: a comprehensive review, Clean
D. F. Jaf et al.
Technologies and Environmental Policy, 23(6), 2021,
1701-1713,
Rovnaník, P., Effect of Curing Temperature on the
Development of Hard Structure of Metakaolin-Based
Geopolymer, Constr. Build. Mater., 24(7), 2010,
1176–1183,
Raijiwala, D.B., Patil.H.S., Geopolymer Concrete: A
Concrete of Next Decade, Journal of Engineering
Research and Studies, 2(1), 2011, 19-25,
Rattanasak, U., Pankhet, K., Chindaprasirt, P., Effect of
chemical admixtures on properties of high-calcium
fly ash geopolymer, International Journal of
Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials, 18(3), 2011,
364-369,
Rai, S., Wasewar, K., Mukhopadhyay, J., Yoo, C. K.,
Uslu, H., Neutralization and utilization of red mud for
its better waste management, Arch. Environ. Sci, 6,
2012, 13-33,
Sathia, R., Ganesh Babu, K., Santhanam, M., Durability
study of low calcium fly ash geopolymer concrete,
The 3rd ACF international conference, 2008, -
ACF/VCA 2008.1153–1159,
Shaikh, F.U.A., Effects of Alkali Solutions on Corrosion
Durability of Geopolymer Concrete, Advances in
Concrete Construction, 2(2), 2014, 109-123,
Sarker, P.K., Kelly, S., Yao, Z., Effect of Fire Exposure
on Cracking, Spalling and Residual Strength of Fly
Ash Geopolymer Concrete, Mater. Des., 63, 2014,
584–592,
Singh, B., Ishwarya, G., Gupta, M., Bhattacharyya, S. K.,
Geopolymer concrete: A review of some recent
developments, Construction and building materials,
85, 2015, 78-90,
Singh, N.B., Saxena, S.K., Kumar, M., Rai, S.
Geopolymer Cement : Synthesis, Characterization,
Properties and Applications, Mater. Today Proc., 15,
2019, 364–370,
74
Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75
Safari, Z., Kurda, R., Al-Hadad, B., Mahmood, F., Tapan,
M., Mechanical Characteristics of Pumice-Based
Geopolymer Paste, Resour. Conserv. Recycl., 162,
2020, 105055,
Thokchom, S., Ghosh, P., Ghosh, S., Effect of water
absorption, porosity and sorptivity on durability of
geopolymer mortars, J. Eng. Appl. Sci., 4, 2009, 28–
32.
Vijai, K., Kumutha, R., Vishnuram, B.G. Effect of Types
of Curing on Strength of Geopolymer Concrete,
International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 5(9),
2010, 1419-1423,
Wardhono, A., Law, D. W., Sutikno, Dani, H., The effect
of slag addition on strength development of Class C
fly ash geopolymer concrete at normal temperature,
In AIP Conference Proceedings, 1887(1), 2017,
020030. AIP Publishing LLC,
Wu, Y., Lu, B., Yi, Z., Du, F., Zhang, Y. The Properties
and Latest Application of Geopolymers the Properties
and Latest Application of Geopolymers, IOP Conf.
Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 472(1),
2019, 012029,
Wang, A., Zheng, Y., Zhang, Z., Liu, K., Li, Y., Shi, L.,
Sun, D. The Durability of Alkali-Activated Materials
in Comparison with Ordinary Portland Cements and
Concretes: A Review, Engineering, 6(6), 2020, 695–
706,
Zhang, H. Y., Kodur, V., Wu, B., Cao, L., Wang, F.,
Thermal Behavior and Mechanical Properties of
Geopolymer Mortar after Exposure to Elevated
Temperatures, Construction and Building Materials,
109, 2016, 17-24,
Zain, H., Abdullah, M. M. A. B., Hussin, K., Ariffin, N.,
Bayuaji, R., Review on various types of geopolymer
materials with the environmental impact assessment,
In MATEC Web of Conferences, EDP Sciences, 97,
2017, 01021.
 D. F. Jaf et al. Recycling and Sustainable Development 15 (2022) 63-75

Geopolimerni beton: svojstva, izdržljivost i primena – Pregled

Dilshad Kakasor Jaf, Payam Ismael Abdulrahman, Shuokr Qarani Aziz #

Salahadin univerzitet u Erbilu, Fakultet inženjerskih nauka, Odsek za građevinarstvo, okrug Kurdistan-Irak

INFORMACIJE O RADU IZVOD

Primljen 22 novembar 2021 Beton je jedan od najpouzdanijih, najtrajnijih i najtraženijih građevinskih

Prihvaćen 04 maj 2022 materijala. Postao je drugi najkorišćeniji materijal posle vode na svetu. Mnoga
istraživanja su pokazala da količina ispuštenog CO2 u atmosferu iznosi 1 tonu
Pregledni rad tokom proizvodnje 1 tone cementa, što doprinosi 5-7 % ukupnoj emisiji CO2 u
svetu. Geopolimerni beton predstavlja novinu u proizvodnji betona koja ne
Ključne reči: zahteva upotrebu cementa. Materijali koji se najviše koriste u geopilimeru su
Geopolimer nusproizvodi, kao što si leteći pepeo, usitnjena granularna šljaka iz visoke peći,
Beton silicijumska prašina i drugi. Industrijski otpadni materijali predstavljaju veliki
Leteći pepeo problem za ljudsko zdravlje, životnu sredinu i nedostatak zemljišta, stoga se
Izdržljivost njihova ponovna upotreba u proizvodnji geopolimernog betona može smatrati
OPC velikom prednošću. Dosadašnje istraživanje pokazuje da većina nusproizvoda
pokazuje sličnu ili bolju izdržljivost, kao i mehanička i fizička svojstva u
poređenju sa običnim betonom. Zbog toga je geopolimerni beton postao dobar
održivi materijal sa mnogo prednosti u odnosu na konvencionalni beton, kao što
su visoka brza čvrstoća, odlična otpornost na hemijske napade i koroziju čelične
armature, eliminacija očvršćavanja u vodi, niska cena i drugi. Ovaj rad pruža
pregled geopolimer betona, njegovog sastava, tipova, trajnosti i posebne
primene.

75

View publication stats